Dance in the Dark
by Flora Winters
Summary: Can a true love survive destiny? Grace has a nephew and he’s sort of crazy. Don’t worry. He has good reasons. Language, MM, OC, Violence
1. Prologue

Dance in the Dark

Flora_Winters

**Disclaimer:** I do not own James Cameron's Avatar. It all belongs to him. I'm not making any money off writing this story either.

**Summary:** Can a true love survive destiny? Grace has a nephew and he's sort of crazy. Don't worry. He has good reasons. Language, MM, OC, Violence

_Prologue_

It was difficult for someone like Kerry to understand the concept of a mother goddess. In fact, it was quite hard for him to really understand the concept of any deity. Something like Eywa was just too much for him to even try and comprehend.

Religion and spirituality made his head hurt. The pain would first strike right behind his blue eyes and then spread like a plague. He didn't have time to listen to fairytales and other such terrors Grimm. All he wanted to do was escape and pick flowers to play with under the microscope.

"Oh, come on, Grace," he finally growled. "I want to come with you. I want to see this new world the way you do."

"You do, do you?" She asked, turning away from her specimen to look at him. "And what did I tell you?"

He rolled his eyes. "I either have to put aunt or doctor in front of your name, but you prefer doctor."

She nodded. "It all has to do with respect. The Omaticaya are all about respect and reverence."

And she was off again. He sat back, making himself as comfortable as he dared. With the way she was speed talking, he could tell this might take a while.

He would nod ever so often and agree at pauses just to fool her into thinking he was actually paying attention. All of this talk about Tree of Voices, Tree of Souls, Wells of Voodoo, was really beginning to make his left eye twitch.

"Not that I believe in that stuff myself," she went on and on. "But, I do believe there is something happening biologically within these scared sites."

He nodded again.

"Let me go with you this time," he said. "I want to see the outside world without there being glass in my way."

"Your avatar body is not fully formed yet," she said, looking at him with her head cocked to the side. "And you're not putting that skin on until you learn their language and as much of their culture as you can. Until you learn to take your studies seriously, you'll be looking through glass behind these walls for a very long time."

He pursed his lips. And it was time to commence with the really loud shouting and the mean name calling. It was really beginning to become a nice little ritual they had, the only culture in his life.

"Fine," he said out of the violet light.

She cocked a brow. "Is that it? That's all you're going to say? No yelling or breaking a beaker this time?"

He turned away. He wasn't even going to _grace_ those questions with an answer.

If there was one thing he had gotten from his mother, it was her ability to give a devastating silent treatment. It was one of the reasons why his father had blown her brains out and then his own.

He had come out of his room, yelling for them to turn the volume on the fucking television down. He had then slipped in his mother's brains and fallen on his ass. Two years of therapy and six years of Sleeping Beauty Syndrome and he was here on Pandora with his mommy's twin sister.

His dad had murdered his mom and then took his own life when he was fourteen. He was in the crazy house with all the nuts and squirrels until he was sixteen. Now he was 29, but in a 22 year old body that still looked youthfully teenaged.

"I keep telling you to get Norm to help you," his Aunt said. "Now that Sully is…"

Kerry hissed, getting to his feet. "I have to go…watch something."

"Wait," she called, making a little noise as she got up. "I didn't mean…"

He practically fled from the lab without running this time around. He walked as far away as he could before he finally collapsed back against a metal wall.

He closed his eyes, pressing his palms against his temples. He didn't want to see and he didn't want to think about it.

Tom had been his friend. The two of them had been a lot alike. They both had come from broken homes, but Tom had never been all alone though. He had been lucky for having a brother.

"Stop," he whispered to no one, his mind flashing back against his will.

"_Tom?"_

_The darkness smelled like some faraway nightmare he could never really run far away from. Shadows danced and he slipped in something thick._

"_Tom?" He reached out, catching his balance. "I don't like this game."_

_He moved ever so cautiously and suddenly tripped over something large sprawled in the floor. He hit the ground hard, getting thick wetness all over his hands as he tried to get up. It was so cold._

"_Lights!" He shouted._

_The dark blood under his fingernails was the first thing he saw. Then it was the blood all over his hands and under him._

_When he turned his head and saw Tom's empty eyes looking at him; that was when his mind relapsed again._

"_Not again!" He screamed, pulling Tom into his arms. "Tom!"_

_He shook him so hard, making his head loll like some dead weight._

_They had found him holding his friend in his arms, humming some long forgotten song._

"Stop it!" He snapped, hitting himself over and over in the temples with his palms.

It had been six years, six long years of sleeping with that pale and empty corpse.

Four of those six years had been in what his Aunt called a "healing sleep" and it had given his mind a chance to rest and heal itself, while Sleeping Beauty kissed him again. For the last two years he had been coping with the loss of his…friend.

"Tom…"

Why had he been murdered? Who had taken his life?

There were too many unanswered questions.

"_Eywa," Tom had once told him in secret. "If I die here, I hope my soul goes to her. She seems nice."_

Kerry shook his head. He believed in no gods. He told himself he had good reason not to.

Why would such a loving goddess allow a kind man to be murdered in cold blood for him to nearly drown in? Why would any loving god allow a father to take a mother's life for him to nearly lose his mind?

Gods are useless creations.

"Hey, beautiful," a cheerful voice called. "Why are you out this way for?"

It was Trudy.

"Escaping," he answered.

She laughed. "Again?"

He nodded. "I had to. She was driving me crazy."

She walked up and gave him a warm hug. She smelled of machine oil and some kind of flower.

"I have to see your aunt," she told him, letting go. "She's heading out again tomorrow."

"I know," he grumbled. "I'm stuck here as always."

She ruffled his shocking white hair. It had once been darker than deep space, but the "healing sleep" had bleached it to snow. At least, that is what the color snow looks like in history books. He had never seen snow.

"Why don't you go talk to him?" Trudy asked, making him blink. "I'm sure he would like a visit."

He fought really hard to keep the stinging from making his eyes all red. It was a battle lost.

"Do you think he was murdered because of…"

Trudy took hold of his trembling shoulders, telling him to look at her in her commanding voice. He did as he was told. You never argued with her. She would smack you down, hard.

"You did nothing wrong," she told him. "The bastard who pulled that trigger is to blame."

His bottom lip trembled. He was losing it again. He could feel that terrible coldness sliding back inside.

"Tom made a choice," she said. "He chose a side and he stood for it."

"It killed him."

She gently played with his hair. "He knew what he was doing."

"Did he?"

"Go see him."

Kerry shook his head. "It is just an empty shell."

She smiled. "That moves…that dreams of waking up."

She ruffled his hair and walked away from him. He just stood there, watching her go.

He sniffled and wiped at his nose with the back of his palm.

Ten very long minutes later, he stood before the giant glass tank in the empty lab. A large, blue foot kicked and he walked around very slowly up the long length of the clear tube.

He put his pale hand up to the glass. It was smooth and body temperature warm, like the fluid inside.

"Hi," he whispered.

Tom's handsome, blue avatar face turned towards him with closed eyes. It looked just like him. His right knee trembled a little.

"Miss me?" He asked, stepping up closer.

The muscular body twitched slightly and the right hand flexed a little bit. It was such a big hand, too. The avatar body looked strong enough to punch through walls. He bet it could lift a person up and toss them clear across a room.

"I miss you," he said, putting his smooth forehead to the glass. "I couldn't wait to see you in this form. You were so excited about it. You were going to be ten feet tall."

Painful silence followed.

"Do you want to hear a story?" He asked. "I just made this one up."

He took the sudden movement of the broad, striped shoulders as a yes. It was all he really needed.

"Once there existed a happy little boy…"

Kerry didn't know his Aunt was watching and listening. He was too lost in Tom's sleeping, serene face.

"He believed in things like love and happy ever afters…"

He closed his eyes.

"He really should have snorted a lethal dose of harsh reality and read between those prettily painted lines…"

_**To Be Continued…**_

**Author Note:** This idea came to me when I was actually sitting in the dark theater, falling in love with this movie all over again. It has got to be one the best movies I've ever seen. It is the number one movie on my list.

So, please take the time to review after you get done reading and tell me what you think so far. I wonder what will happen when Jake shows up on Pandora.

-Flora


	2. Chapter One

Dance in the Dark

Flora_Winters

**Disclaimer:** I do not own James Cameron's Avatar. It all belongs to him. I'm not making any money off writing this story either.

**Summary:** Can a true love survive destiny? Grace has a nephew and he's sort of crazy. Don't worry. He has good reasons. Language, MM, OC, Violence

Chapter One

_Musical chanting filled the floral scented air with an almost magical charge. The harmonized vocals flowed and coursed like a swift, dancing river._

_Kerry walked amidst colorful flowers and falling petals. His pale hair floated about his face like shining strands of white light._

_The world was alive with pulsing power and glowing all around him. All of the invisible voices reminded him of the sound distant thunder and falling rain made._

_Luminous pink mists danced within the darkness between the swaying trees. Leafy branches and blooming vines seemed to reach out and coil just to softy touch his naked flesh._

_Strange, alien scents tickled his nose and the wild sounds of primordial nature tackled him with such stunning beauty. Time felt as though it was frozen at a standstill and he was passing it by. He was dazzled by all the streaming lights and his breathing stilled when he felt warm arms embracing him from behind._

"_Tom?"_

_He received a bubble soft chuckle and a playful caress. And just like a delicate little bubble, the dream popped._

His azure eyes blinked open and he stared up at the flat ceiling. The tiny room was cast in soft violet light as he slowly sat up on his little bed. It was a small place his aunt had made him that was out of the way.

The square room was lined with shelves. Faces in pictures smiled at him, books with worn covers were begging to be read, and a few of the flowers were asking to be hydrated just a little bit.

He rubbed his blurry eyes. It was unusual. He never dreamed. That had been the first dream since…Tom had been murdered.

He stared at the warm violet light that was shining down on the healthy green plants. His aunt had given them to him since he couldn't have a pet. It was like some sort of responsibility thing. It was up to him to take care of them and keep them alive.

It was little wonder his aunt had never married. She loved plants more than anything else.

Where he had come from, there was no green. This new world was a green paradise, and just like his already dead home, the air was cruelly poisonous to him.

He was 29, but didn't look any older than sixteen. And like a teen, he still wanted to go running through the forest and climb trees. It had been his first impulse when arriving on this green and blue moon.

In school books, back when his planet was still green, children had had things called tree houses. He had only ever seen a real one in a rundown museum. The tree, of course, had been plastic.

He looked at his youthful face in the mirror across from him. Playing with Sleeping Beauty for nearly ten years had done wonders for his glacially smooth complexion, but his looks were now just as poisonous to him as the air outside. He no longer had the person who had enjoyed looking at him.

He rose to his feet and the bare floor under them was warm. He had spent most of his night before with what would have been Tom's avatar.

Just staring into that sleeping face had seemed to calm and soothe him a bit. Just knowing some small part of Tom still existed in this new world made him feel somewhat more secure in some tiny way.

"_Open your eyes," he had whispered, softly pecking on the glass with his knuckles. "Please, open your eyes and look at me, just even for a second."_

The eyes had never opened, but the shoulders had shrugged, as if to apologize to him. At least, that was how he had chosen to see it.

He turned from the oval mirror and began to water the plants. He was now doing what many people back in the old days of his planet had done.

A gentle knock came at his closed door and he turned around.

"Yes?"

"It's Norm," the voice outside said. "Your aunt wants you to come with me."

He carefully put his glass spray bottle down and took four steps, opening up the metal door.

"You could just say hi," he told the taller man.

Most are taller than him. Playing with Sleeping Beauty for nearly half his life had kept him young and reed thin, but had stunted his growth. His mom, like his aunt, had been giant tall compared to him. His dad had been what some would say, 'goddamn!'

He stood to Norm's shoulders.

Norm smiled. "Hi."

"Let me change," he told him, backing up a single step. "And I'll be right out."

Norm nodded.

He closed the door with a soft click and turned around. Norm and Tom had been good friends, but ever since Tom's murder, Norm wouldn't look him in the eyes. Norm made him feel more like a chore than a person.

He shook his head and got dressed. It didn't take him long at all. He'd bathe later.

"Where are we going?" He asked, opening the door back up.

Norm pushed off the opposite wall. "We're going to the greenhouse."

Kerry closed the door to his room behind him, locking it.

Well, it was a good thing he hadn't bathed. It would have been useless within twenty minutes of being in there.

"I'm going to be quizzing you," Norm told him, turning to lead the way. "I even made you flashcards."

Kerry giggled, following a few steps behind him. "You made flashcards?"

It was an ancient method used for studying back on his world.

"Well," Norm said. "Nothing else seems to be working for you. Your brain is more rock than sponge."

Kerry actually laughed. "So you do like me."

Norm stopped and turned around, not really looking at him.

"Your aunt is my boss," Norm said. "And Tom was my best friend."

Kerry felt an icy pang, looking down.

"I want to help you get out of these walls so you'll start to really heal," Norm went on. "But, I can't do it all by myself. You have to get up and work for it, too."

Kerry lifted his head. Had Norm really said that?

"If I ace this quiz," he said. "Will you start looking me in the eyes when you speak to me?"

Norm suddenly did look him in the eyes.

"Sorry," he said. "It's just that you look so much like the Plant Lady."

Kerry cocked his head to the side. Norm was lying to him. He knew he was. It was more than just that, but he chose to let it go.

Norm looked as if there was more he wanted to say, but his mouth never moved. He instead rested a hand on Kerry's slender shoulder and squeezed gently.

"Come on," Norm said. "We better get going. Your aunt is playing around with floral toxins out in the jungle today and I don't want her mad when she gets back with the samples."

Kerry nodded. "Can I take a peek at those cards?"

Norm snorted. "But, you study so hard. Why would you need to peek?"

Kerry sighed, but decided to do his best this time. If he didn't pass, Norm would be blamed right along with him. He didn't want Norm to get into trouble for his lack of caring about shit.

"_I want to help you get out of these walls so you'll start to really heal."_

He would get out of these walls. He just had to, whether it was with a mask on or off.

~*~

He looked at the picture of the jackal looking beastie. It was small, jet black, and had six legs that were swifter than air. Like a wolf, these creatures traveled in large packs and were capable of taking down an unsuspecting man in a matter of moments.

"A pissed off Viperwolf," he answered, wiping a bead of sweat from his face.

Damn it was hot. He felt like he was in hell.

Norm put the card down and held up another one.

It was a picture of a Na'Vi male atop a six legged mount. The creature looked fast and powerful, like its muscular rider.

"Direhorse."

Norm held up a photo of a scary looking monster from a black pit of nightmare. The demon looked as if it could snap a man in two with its powerful maws. It looked faster than a bullet and catlike. Those razor sharp paws were known for slashing through two inches of metal.

"Thanator."

Norm nodded. "What do the natives call it?"

Kerry scratched his head. He had yet to miss a single question and he wasn't about to start now.

It was so hot and humid in the greenhouse. This was what it would feel like out there, where all these playful critters were romping in the mud.

"Um," he drawled for a few breaths, suddenly shouting. "Paluluka!"

"WHERE?" A gardener shouted, throwing himself into a flowering bush with a loud yelp.

Norm narrowed his eyes and Kerry didn't know what to think. He began apologizing profusely to the angry man, explaining that he was being quizzed, as he helped him up.

"Okay," Norm said after all the drama. "What is the biggest bird in the sky?"

"Leo something or otheryx," Kerry said. "But, he's really bright and colorful, so I know his real name. Toruk."

Norm nodded. "The natives call their flying mounts Ikran. What do we aliens call them?"

"Banshee."

"Good," Norm grinned for the first time. "And the Hammerhead Titanothere?"

Kerry bit his bottom lip. He knew they liked to put on brave fronts. He was told that his aunt had to stare one down. She could look at a missile and it would turn, screaming in another direction.

"Ang…Angst…Angsty…Angtsik!"

Norm placed the cards down on the ground between them. "What do the natives call Hometree?"

Kerry shrugged. "The home the muscle heads are trying to kick them out of, so they can dig up some stupid rock."

"Close enough," Norm told him. "But, it is called Kelutrel. It is so massive it makes the long forgotten redwoods of our world look like mere sticks in the mud."

Kerry could smell the sudden sweet scent of roses. It was a smell that made him instantly think of Tom.

The handsome man had dared to pluck a single blushing blossom and gently plant it like a kiss behind his left ear. If his aunt had ever known about it, he would know who the killer was. Roses were extinct and the bush here was the only one for now. It had been cloned.

"Tell me what you know of Eywa," he asked Norm. "Tom really seemed to like her."

Norm did.

"Eywa is the Mother Goddess of Pandora," he said. "She is the supreme deity of the Na'Vi."

Kerry knew the man could go on and on about the green spirit.

"She is the naked face of nature and all the power behind it."

Kerry held up his hand to stop him after a few minutes. "Do you think she is real?"

Using his index finger, Norm drew a circle in the dirt. "Did Tom think she was real?"

Kerry blinked.

Had Tom? He would often speak as if she was. He would often speak of strange dreams and he talked as if the myth were his mother.

"Your aunt seems to think that through the tree root systems," he said, "The plants are all speaking to each other."

Kerry looked up from the near perfect circle in the dark soil. "What?"

"All the plants in this world seem to be connected to each other in same way," he said. "This is why I can't wait to step into my avatar and see for myself."

Kerry turned his face to the side.

Tom had told him that the people of their world had once lived alongside the natural world. But, man in his arrogance, grew too bold and slowly murdered their mother with technology and the poison it created.

The green had been wiped completely out. Blue skies were never seen again, and the oceans became rolling waves of black venom. Beaches had been made bone from all the dead marine life.

"_This new world is pure," Tom had tickled his ear during a sweet scented night among blooming orchids. "And if we are not careful, we'll destroy this one, too."_

Kerry slowly got to his feet. He was starting to remember small things the "Healing Sleep" had caused him to forget about.

"I think we're done for now," Norm told him, rising as well. "Are you hungry?"

Kerry nodded. "I think I am."

"Good," Norm smiled. "I think I am, too."

Tom had been a lot like his aunt. He loved the green. He hadn't wanted to harm this world.

Kerry instantly froze.

Had Tom known something that his aunt didn't? He knew men could go places a woman couldn't here. Had he discovered or seen something that had put his life at risk?

"Kerry?" Norm asked. "Are you all right?"

He smiled. "I'm fine."

No. No he wasn't fine.

He was pissed the fuck off.

"Let's go eat," he said, looking off to where he knew the roses were once again blooming. "I don't want there to be anything for my aunt to fuss about when her mind decides to come back."

Norm picked up the quiz cards and began to lead the way. Kerry wasn't allowed to go anywhere around big men with even bigger guns by himself. His aunt had forbidden him to even so much as think about it.

"Do you really want to go in there?" Norm asked. "I could just bring the food back to the lab?"

He shook his head. He was 29. He wasn't a little boy.

"Remember," Norm told him. "Just ignore them."

He simply nodded. There was little the "Jar Heads" could do to hurt him. Just before his deep sleep, his aunt had seen to it personally that one of the pestering bastards spent most of the day puking and shitting his guts out over a toilet. Two years into his sleep, the bastard had gotten eaten by some lake creature nobody could see. A slimy tentacle had come up out of the water, wrapped around his neck, and pulled him overboard and under in a matter of seconds.

Many thought him spooky. They all knew who his aunt was. It was wise to fear Dr. Grace Augustine. Plus, they could see her in his face. But, what they didn't know was that he had been in the crazy house.

Sure, he had talked to the nice doctors, but he never told them the truth. Even when Tom had been bleeding all over him and he was dragged kicking and screaming from the lifeless body, he had lied about what he was truly feeling.

Nobody knew what he truly felt like or looked on the inside. Not even the "Healing Sleep" could fix the deeper parts within him.

In reality, he was a beautiful young man, who looked all charming and innocently sweet on the outside. But, within the darkest depths of his aqua blue eyes, he was filled with blood thirsting thorns and another dance with the crazies.

The cold was creeping back into him. He could feel that scary, hollow presence slithering just below the thin surface. It was prowling, stalking within his very veins.

He had to stay calm. He wasn't ever going to give his aunt a reason to think he needed some more play time with Sleeping Beauty ever again. He was going to try and complete his studies and find his lover's killer during the goddamn process.

"So," Norm said, leading him into the less crowded than usual cafeteria. "What do you want to focus your studies on for real?"

A sudden whistle echoed, making him nearly stop and look to see where it had come from. But, he swiftly caught himself before it showed and he ignored the muffled laughter.

"It must be dangerous for a guy to have looks like that," a deep voice laughed. "If I didn't have a woman back home, I'd fuck that lily white ass over this table backwards."

More laughter followed.

Kerry calmly collected food on his tray. So, he was now some stupid Jar Head rape fantasy?

His red lips suddenly twitched upwards of their own accord into a secret, deadly smile.

Did these fools seriously think he feared them?

He'd found his in.

"Na'Vi culture," he answered Norm, who was glaring over his shoulder at the roudy table.

_And all the poisons they play with. I'll find who took you away from me, Tom. And I'll make him or her very sorry for ever doing that._

**To Be Continued…**

**Author Note:** Please review and tell me what you think. I can't wait to buy this movie when it comes out on DVD. I've bought all the toys and posters. LOL! I'm also looking into buying all the books as well. I'm such a dork. This movie was just that goddamn awesome!

-_Flora_


	3. Chapter Two

Dance in the Dark

Flora_Winters

**Disclaimer:** I do not own James Cameron's Avatar. It all belongs to him. I'm not making any money off writing this story either.

**Summary:** Can a true love survive destiny? Grace has a nephew and he's sort of crazy. Don't worry. He has good reasons. Language, MM, OC, Violence

_Chapter Two_

Kerry held a small rock in the smooth palm of his pale hand, looking it over with accusing blue eyes. The valuable mineral had been named Unobtanium, and what little he held in his palm could fund two years of higher education at almost any top university back on his dead planet.

The big men with their even bigger guns had taken Na'Vi lives in order to obtain what he now tossed up into the air and caught between both hands. (Well, not that piece. It is just a small chunk off an even bigger piece.) It made him begin to wonder who else had died, besides Tom, in order for him to be doing just as he was now doing.

The very air his lungs needed and the food he digested was being funded and paid for with the blood of a secret war. All of this had been made possible through exploitation and death.

For a moment, it was as though he could hear echoes of distant screaming. It chilled his blood and caused him to shiver down to his toes. The fine, near translucent hairs on the back of his neck and arms prickled and stood up. It was a feeling he didn't like.

Kerry wasn't stupid. He knew the truth, and he did listen, even though his aunt accused him otherwise all the time.

The Avatar Program was just an illusive smokescreen to make the RDA look good. It made the corporation look all shiny in the eyes of the governments funding the Pandora expedition. But, the real truth was; nobody but his aunt and her team gave a fuck about the Na'Vi and their goddamn trees. The real reason for the occupation of Pandora was to mine for profit and damn anyone or anything trying to prohibit that.

The more he thought and sulked on it, the sadder and more pissed off he slowly became. Tom had to have walked in on something darker than hell, and it had gotten his brains blown out the back of his skull. It was the only logical conclusion his disturbed mind could come up with.

He carelessly dropped the small hunk of crap back onto the metallic table with a clatter and turned away. It was all because of this stupid rock that he would never again feel Tom's arms around him or taste his kisses upon his lips. All he could see was flesh torn apart by bullets and a thick pool of dark blood.

The memory of the smell had him put his hand to his nose and glare up at the ceiling. Tom had looked so empty and discarded. That which had made him Tom had no longer been present. That spark of life and feeling was forever gone and there was nothing he could do to bring it back.

He stomped his right foot down as hard as he could, and put his hand as tightly as he could over his mouth, in order to muffle his rage scream. The last thing he wanted was for someone to hear him. It wouldn't do for him to scream and not be physically hurt upon discovery. He didn't want to have to see the good doctor again. He was kind of creepy.

With his head lowered, he stalked out of his aunt's personal quarters. She didn't like for him being in there when she wasn't around to keep an eye on him. His aunt had this thing about people touching things that didn't belong to them. So, he had merely touched the rock. It belonged to no one. So, he had broken no rules. Let her yell at him and he would tell her so. She liked when he would fight with logic, instead of raw emotion.

"_If you want to win," she had once told him. "You must fight to the point where the other side can't open their mouths without sounding as stupid as they look."_

That was why she was the doctor and everyone else licked her jungle boots. And if you were to really piss her off, she just made sure there was more mud to lick. She was just that kind of person. Dr. Grace Augustine didn't get mad, she simply made you sorry and fearfully apologize for ever being birthed.

His stomach was full and he felt a little sleepy. He was happy that he had passed Norm's quiz. His aunt would have very little to fuss at him about.

But, he was a mite bit upset over what that solider had voiced in the cafeteria. It still made his flesh crawl with a large amount of disgust. He was never going to step foot in there again, not until he had the power to make fools like that shit their pants in fear. He wanted to be able to simply look at a man and cause the bastard's bowls to empty right on the spot.

He made his way back to his own little room and decided that it was now time for a bath. He felt dirty and didn't like it at all.

Violet light washed over him when he opened up the door. He stepped on something and looked down. It was a small, white envelope.

He bent over and picked it up. He flipped it over, opening it with a quick tear.

It was from Norm.

_**You did really well today. All you have to do is study what you're told and then do your best. Pay no attention to what those idiots said. They'll probably be dead soon anyway. Accidents happen.**_

_**Also, your aunt told me that she would like for you to come to her lab later tonight. She has something she wants to tell you. I wanted to be the one to tell you, but she thought it would be best if it came from her first. It is nothing bad, depending on how you choose to look at it.**_

_**Study hard,**_

_**Norm**_

Kerry cocked a pale, thin brow. What the fuck was it now?

He quickly chose not to dwell on what his aunt had to tell him. It couldn't be anything bad. He had done nothing as far as he could remember. Norm would have at least told him something, or at least warned him sooner.

It was probably something stupid. He would just roll his eyes and go on.

He dropped the letter onto his unmade bed, snatched up his plastic bag, and walked back out for a good wash and scrub. He made sure to lock his door behind him.

~*~

_The almost round pool of water shimmered like a green jewel being held up to the light of a full moon. The pool's edge was lined with strange yellow flowers with white centers, and the surface of the pool gently bubbled like soup over a low flame._

_A beating of drums filled the perfumed air and there was a distant booming of deep thunder. He knelt down at the edge of the pool, amidst all the sweet scented blossoms._

_It was dark, save for the emerald glow from the pool. The dense forest around him began to magically light up with many exotic and wild botanical colors he had never seen before. The green light caused his shadow to dance tall and alien._

_He carefully leaned over the edge, reaching slowly down to feel the water with his hand. He never made a sound when a large hand rose out of the green light, gently snatching hold of his wrist. He simply smiled and allowed himself to be pulled in and under._

~*~

Kerry blinked his eyes and slowly lifted up his head. He was still in the tub.

He stretched out with a soft yawn and just sat there, looking down at the white hair between his legs. Even the downy fine hairs on his legs were pale as snow. It made him wonder what Tom would think if he were here to see him now.

Tom would probably tease him about trying to be a fair haired Snow White and toss a manufactured crimson apple right at his head. The impact would knock him out and Tom would have to kiss him more than once in order to bring him to.

He shook his head. It was a fantasy that would never happen.

The water was beginning to cool and he carefully stood up. The tub could sometimes get break-neck slick. He reached for his blue towel and began to dry off.

His aunt had demanded this little bath be made just for her back in the day. A woman like her needed her privacy. He now got to use it as well, as long as he cleaned it afterwards.

He put fresh clothes on and headed back to his room with his pack slung over his shoulder. He was going to read a book until it was time to go see the great and terrible Botanist of Pandora. He loved the title of the old book, too.

_**Poison: A Little Lady's Guide**_

"Just a spoonful of arsenic helped put my abusive husband down. It was a mercy killing. Really! Well, it was far better than giving him forty whacks and getting his blood all over my nice carpet, let me tell you. What? What do you mean? You don't believe me? Is this the face of a lady who would lie to you? I was merely thinking about the carpet."

Oh, he howled with laughter. And then he turned the crinkled page.

**To Be Continued…**

**Author Note:** Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for your reviews. They mean so much to me. I'm really having fun with this story. I can't wait for my survival guide to come in. I'm also going to order the jewelry as well.

_-Flora_


	4. Chapter Three

Dance in the Dark

Flora_Winters

**Disclaimer:** I do not own James Cameron's Avatar. It all belongs to him. I'm not making any money off writing this story either.

**Summary:** Can a true love survive destiny? Grace has a nephew and he's sort of crazy. Don't worry. He has good reasons. Language, MM, OC, Violence

_Chapter Three_

Kerry flipped his little book shut with a sharp snap and sat it aside for another day without rain. He glanced over at the locked door and reached a hand under his pillow, pulling out a thin picture frame. It was a color image of him and Tom. It was the only one he had.

He was seated in front and Tom was behind, resting his cleft chin on top of his once dark head, grinning broadly. Trudy had been the one to take the photo out in the gardens. The pink and blue orchids had been in full bloom.

Gently, he touched the thin glass and carefully slid it back under his pillow. It was now one of his most sacred treasures. Unlike the soulless avatar body in that lab, this picture had forever captured a spark of that bright soul that would never fade.

His missed Tom's goofy smile and his tender caresses in the soft darkness. He missed the tickling whispers, the candy sweet kisses, and the feel of Tom inside him, loving him, dancing with him across splayed sheets and fallen petals. Oh, those too short of nights had been filled with laughter and crazy promises; the kinds of promises that could never be kept. Not now. Not ever.

There had always been a strange look in Tom's eyes, now that he began to remember. It would be a distant, faraway look, like he was seeing something playing out that nobody else could witness to. He would sit and watch Tom get lost in that handsome head of his, not moving, just watching.

He sat up on his bed and hugged his knees to his chest. He began to remember the day before he had found Tom dead in a pool of his own blood as if it had only suddenly been the night before.

Tom had come stumbling into his old room after a grueling workout session and collapsed onto his bed with a thud and groan. He had been wet with sweat and dead tired.

"_You smell terrible," he told him._

"_Thanks," Tom scoffed. "I feel worse."_

"_Go get clean," he said, rising to his feet, pulling on the taller man's sweaty, muscular arm._

"_No," Tom whined, playfully struggling with him. "I just ran ten miles. My feet hurt."_

_He laughed. "If you go wash, I'll massage your achy feet."_

Kerry chuckled at the memory. Tom had been up and out the door in a swift whoosh. The man had loved his foot massages.

It had been during that foot massage that Tom had fallen off to sleep. He had continued to massage his large feet for a few more minutes, before crawling and curling up beside him. Watching Tom sleep before nodding off himself had been one of his rituals. But, there had been something different about the way he had done it that time. He had looked and watched Tom sleep for what felt like forever. It was like he had been frozen in time, looking at him for what had felt like would be his very last time to get to do so. He actually remembered how stupid he had felt for feeling such an illogical fear. If he had only known what he now knew. Tom might not be just a photograph now.

He had been just about to put his head down, when Tom had jerked awake with a loud shout. The man's breathing had been ragged, like he'd been running for his life.

"_What is it?" He asked him._

Tom had then looked him right in the eyes and smiled the sweetest smile he had ever seen on his handsome face. The man had looked at perfect peace with the alien world.

Kerry reflected how the bigger man suddenly kissed him, kissed him with all that he had. Tom had gotten up and locked the door with a click, removing his clothes. The lights had been turned off and the two of them had danced in the dark all night long in each others arms.

"_I'll never leave you."_

Kerry immediately jumped off his bed with a muffled yelp, nearly falling on his face. He stumbled backwards, hitting a shelf with his ass, searching his little room with wild eyes. He was all alone in his tiny room.

Those words had been spoken aloud, right into his left ear. He had even felt the warm breath on his skin.

Tom had said those exact words to him only hours before being discovered full of bullets. There had been such calm and purpose on his face, too. He had taken it as Tom's determination to be the best member on his aunt's Avatar team.

"You lied," he hissed to his empty room. "You did leave me."

He bit his bottom lip, feeling his eyes begin to sting. His heart was still hammering away in his smooth throat, as he fought to calm his breaths.

He was all alone in his small room, but there was an alien scent in the air. It smelled really sweet and pure. He instantly knew it couldn't have come from any of his flowers, because he knew the perfume they gave off.

"Tom?"

There was only a fading, sweet scented silence.

He didn't believe in ghosts. If he did, he'd have to believe in gods and that fucked up shit wasn't happening.

Tom was dead. He wasn't a ghost. He was never going to see him again. His memories was feeding his imagination, and like the little monster it was, it had attacked him right where it hurt the most.

He slowly put a hand to his left ear. That warm, tickling breath had felt so damn real. But, it had only been the memory of Tom doing that back during his golden hours on this new world.

He shook his head and wiped at his eyes. None of this made any sense to him. If Tom had known something terrible, why had he looked so peaceful? Why had he been so calm? He had acted as if there had been nothing at all wrong in the world.

A dreadful cold suddenly washed over him like an icy splash of water. It chilled him down to his very bones.

Had Tom somehow known he'd be killed in cold blood? Had he known he didn't have long left, so that was why he'd put on such a brave face? Was that why Tom had made love to him like that? Was it because he knew he would never get to do it again?

"Why?" He asked the violent silence in which surrounded him on four sides. "Why did you make me a promise you knew you'd never be able to keep?"

There could be no other reason. The RDA had wanted Tom out of their way. He had become some kind of threat to their operation on this world.

Had Tom told anyone else what he'd known? If he had told anybody, it would have to be Dr. Grace Augustine. She loves Pandora and its people as much as he had.

He'd known Tom had his secrets. Tom had established that in the very beginning of their relationship. He'd been fine with that, too. When secrets were slowly revealed and the listener kept them silent, it had built trust between them.

If there was such a terrible secret, he wanted to be pissed with Tom for not telling him, but he grievously understood why Tom hadn't shared. By not telling him, Tom had protected, shielded him from mortal harm.

After all, now he was just some silly blond, who just so happens to be dumber than dirt. All that deep sleeping around had really fucked his mind. At least, that was the cruel rumor going about with the Jar Heads.

He nearly jumped out of his flesh when the alarm clock beside his head buzzed loudly in his ear. He cursed, slapping it several times before finally turning the damn thing off. It was now sundown and his aunt was more than likely back from her long hike in the woods.

He put on his shoes and left his room, locking the door behind him. He was also going to have a little chat with his auntie dearest. If she knew anything about why Tom had been murdered, he was going to find some way to make her spill it.

Back in his dark room, amidst the green under the warm violet glow, a bubble soft chuckle made a blossom bloom a sunny orange.

~*~

A yellow glow was the first thing that caught Kerry's blue eyes when upon entering his aunt's silent lab. He looked this way and that, before carefully picking up the large, glass cylinder container. It had to stand about two feet high.

The yellow glow instantly faded when he picked it up, holding it to the light. Inside was a strange looking, needle thin spine. The sharp tip was secreting a clear fluid. It looked like some sort of dart that could be shot into flesh.

He put the container back down on the table and in the bit of present darkness, the clear fluid began to glow a venomous yellow once more. It made him begin to wonder if it was as deadly as it looked.

The label across the top of the jar read **Bansheba Terrestre** or _**"Banshee of Paradise." **_What he knew of ancient folklore, a banshee could scream death. Would this strange needle thin spine perhaps do the same?

"One little prick from that and you would be on the ground, moaning out of your mind," his aunt's voice came from behind him, making him turn. "If you get hit with a higher dosage, let's just say, you'll be playing the part of Sleeping Beauty for a really long time."

Kerry nodded, picking up a metal canister. There was something moving around inside of it.

"And what is in here?"

"An arachnoid," she answered him. "That one is about ten centimeters long. There is enough air in there for it to survive just long enough to be put in a more suitable holding tank."

"Are they dangerous?" He asked her, being more careful with the metal canister. He didn't want to accidentally injure the little critter.

His aunt nodded. "They can be. They are more deadly to elder Na'Vi and the children. The poison they create is used in ceremonies."

That perked his attention right then and there. "What do you mean?"

"A young warrior will pick out his or her arachnoid and make it sting them. The psychoactive venom will cause them to go on a 'Dream Hunt' as they call it. It helps them to discover what their totem animal is."

He cocked a brow. "It sounds a lot more complicated than that."

"It is," she assured him. "There are chants, lots of dancing, and some potions to be ingested as well. Lots of animals out there have become immune to their poison. That is why they're so timid and choose to scuttle quickly away."

"What about humans?" He asked her. "Is the poison deadly to us?"

She took the canister from him. "Would you like to find out?"

He took a step back. "Norm said you had something you wanted to tell me."

Kerry watched his aunt carefully place the metal canister back down on the table, among all the other specimens she had brought back from the jungle. He wanted to look at them all. A few more of them were glowing with bioluminescence.

"I do," she spoke, walking by him. "It has to do with Tom's brother."

A door opened from behind and Norm came walking in. Kerry looked at him and his aunt turned, doing the same. The poor guy scratched the back of his head, grinned, and quickly walked over to the other side of the room to clean something.

"What about Jake?" He asked.

"I have been notified that he will be arriving here at the end of the month," she said, turning back towards him. "And I didn't want you to be shocked should you see him."

Kerry felt as though a rock had struck him right between the eyes.

Tom's brother was going to be here?

"He will be using Tom's avatar," she went on. "According to the idiot upstairs, he is a perfect match."

"A perfect match?" He echoed her.

"Yes," she said. "Tom and Jake are identical twins."

He slowly turned away from her, resting his hands on the specimen table in order to keep from falling. He had known Tom had a brother, but he never knew it was a mirror image. He had never asked about Jake, because Tom didn't like to talk about someone he didn't get to see or talk to. It had been a painful subject for Tom. The only thing Tom had told him was that leaving Jake had been the hardest thing he had ever done, but what family he had needed the money badly.

Gentle hands gripped his slender shoulders and squeezed. "You didn't know?"

He didn't answer her. His voice had wondered off somewhere and gotten lost in some dark closet. He swallowed and took a deep breath.

There was going to be a mirror image of Tom walking around this place? He was going to get to see an almost exact image of Tom, but never be allowed to rush across the room and hug him.

"No," he whispered, coughing to clear his dry throat. "He never told me that. No wonder it was so hard for Tom to leave him behind."

"Jake was in the marines and suffered a severe spinal injury back on our home world," Norm said, walking up. "He has been in a wheelchair ever since."

Kerry looked up at him, shaken. "Did Tom tell you that?"

Norm shook his head. "It is in his file." He looked as if he wanted to say something more, but never opened his mouth.

"He is not qualified for this job," his aunt went on, shaking her head, removing her hands from his shoulders. "The last thing I need is another idiot out there with a gun. Tom…he knew what he was doing. He was trained and good at what he did." She looked over at him. "He would have made an excellent Avatar."

Hearing his aunt speak those kind words warmed him a little, only a little. She hadn't disproved of their relationship. She had been silent about it, only making light jokes here and there.

"Can I ask you a question, Aunt Grace?" He asked, turning back to the metal canister on the table.

"If I have the answer," she said. "I shall tell you."

He was slightly trembling.

"I believe that Tom discovered something better left in the darkness," he whispered, picking up the metal canister. "I think that was why he was shot to death and left in that room for me to trip over. I believe my finding him like that was a warning to you."

He felt the crazy beginning to break the surface.

"Kerry," Norm gasped.

He spun around, holding the arachnoid by its dangerous tail. "Tell me what you know or I'll let it sting me."

It was dark purple with black markings.

"Don't be an idiot!" His aunt snapped. "That's a male. I just told you how dangerous they can be. It can kill you!"

He didn't give a damn. Tom's brother was going to be here. He was going to hear the rumors. He was going to hear all the cruel rumors about his twin and him. Those terrible Jar Heads would make what they had shared sound so nasty and ugly. It would ruin Jake's image of his brother.

He knew he wouldn't be able to stand the look that all too familiar face would give him. It would break him, shatter him. He couldn't bear to see a man with Tom's face, looking at him with disgust, blaming him for his brother's death.

"Put it down," Norm calmly advised. "And quickly run to me."

"Tell me!" Kerry yelled, shattering the glass cylinder, picking up the needle like spine, holding it to his arm. "I know he told you, Aunt! They murdered him and let me find him! It was a warning to you!"

"Please," Norm calmly spoke, stepping slowly towards him. "That is one of the deadliest toxins on Pandora. If you so much as scratch yourself, you could die."

"Stay back!" Kerry screamed, holding the secreting spine closer to his exposed flesh. "I want to know why Tom was murdered! I want to know why the person I loved the most was taken away from me!"

He could see the cold blood all over his hands, under his nails. He still remembered slipping and falling in his mother's brains.

"You're suffocating the arachnoid," his aunt quickly spoke again, trying to play on his conscience to calm him down. "It can't breathe our air, just like we can't breathe its."

Kerry quickly looked down at the squirming bug in his hand. It was making such a terrible noise. Was that its death cries? How come he had not heard them before? It was so scared. The poor little thing was crying in pain.

Tears came to his eyes. He had never killed anything before. The poor things sounded so scared. His aunt had said it was a timid creature and he was picking on it, just like a bully.

He dropped the secreting spine and suddenly hissed, dropping the screeching arachnoid. It fell at his feet and squirmed, trying to scuttle away, but couldn't.

Kerry looked at his hand, seeing twin sting marks. They were the size of large pin pricks and was quickly turning red.

"Fuck!" Norm yelled, rushing forward, stomping the arachnoid under his boot as Grace quickly caught her falling nephew.

"Kerry!" She shouted, gently shaking him. "Kerry!"

Kerry could hear a strange and loud buzzing in his ears and his aunt's voice sounded just like an ancient recording of the Chipmunks he had once listened to. She sounded really funny and it caused him to laugh. The look on her face didn't match her silly voice at all.

He squinted. The room around him was so terribly bright. He tried to move his hands to shield his eyes, but discovered that he couldn't. His arms and legs felt like limp noodles.

All of a sudden, it was as if the roof above his head had been blown clean off and the night sky was exploding with an array of vibrant colors. It reminded him of pictures he had once seen in books of the Aurora Borealis. The sky over Pandora was like one gigantic painting come to life.

The shimmering red dot on Polyphemus was spinning around and around, like a dancing cyclone, sucking him up, up, up, and up some more. Wild sounds of wings filled his ears and a brilliant flash of violet lightning sent him flying, spiraling, and laughing among the cerulean clouds, where voices seemed to sing like falling rain.

Suddenly, he was the rain. He was falling down, down, down as the storm boomed above him. The wild howled all around him.

The green earth came at him fast and he threw out both hands with a loud shout. His voice echoed into the fading thunder.

**To Be Continued…**

**Author Note:** Please review and tell me what you think. I'm getting a lot of my information from _James Cameron's Avatar: An Activist Survival Guide_. The book was written by Maria Wilhelm and Dirk Mathison. It is filled with all kinds of useful information that is helping me with this fiction. This book is where I got my info on the arachnoid and the banshee of paradise. It is a really fun read, too. I found it enlightening about ways we should come to revere and help preserve our own world as best we can. But, come 2012, Mother Nature will take back her crown (inserts wild and crazy laughter here). Well, that is if the Old Ones (extended relations) don't come back and tear up jack before then.

IA IA CTHULHU FHTAGN!!!!!

(Inserts even crazier laughter here)


	5. Chapter Four

Dance in the Dark

Flora_Winters

**Disclaimer:** I do not own James Cameron's Avatar. It all belongs to him. I'm not making any money off writing this story either.

**Summary:** Can a true love survive destiny? Grace has a nephew and he's sort of crazy. Don't worry. He has good reasons. Language, MM, OC, Violence

_**Chapter Four**_

_Shadows played just beyond his line of sight. They were spinning and jumping about to the wild beating of loud drums and jungle music. The crazy rhythm washed over him in a wave of heat, feeling almost like a fever was making his blood boil within his veins._

_His body began to jerk and twist, stepping and stomping right along with the frenzy shadows. He cried out, long and loud, voice echoing and harmonized with the nature calls._

_A shadow spun around him, tall and humanoid in shape. Its touch was silk and a shower of brilliant, fiery red petals seemed to freeze in the air. A cool wind, sweet and soothing came from behind, causing his white hair to billow about his face like sea foam._

_The forest went dark and all he could hear was the near silent sound of his own breathing. It sounded harsh and almost forced to him._

_Something softly tickled him. Long, whispering strands of vibrant pink bioluminescence gently ghosted across his smooth white flesh and over him. There were so many voices; young and old, a thousand-thousand of them. It was a song in his head, nearly driving him down on his knees from the power of such a presence._

"_Do not turn around," a voice spoke to him from behind. "My txe'__lan__."_

_Powerful arms came around his narrow waist, pulling him swiftly back against a broad chest, where the sudden familiar embrace nearly caused his legs to give out on him. He cried Tom's name, feeling the treasured kiss upon the back of his neck. It tickled like it always did from the slight stubble._

"_I did it for Pandora, my tan__hi__."_

_A tight squeeze and he felt that chin resting atop his head. Pink strings of light flowed and danced all around them, like long strands of spider silk._

"_You look good in white, Snow."_

~*~

Blue eyes snapped open and he violently gasped for breath. He rocked from side to side, lungs burning for the air they so desperately needed. Kerry felt as if his chest was on fire and there was no water to put it out. He could hear his own blood roaring away in his ears.

"Quickly!" He heard his aunt yell at the top of her lungs. "I need roots from the octoshroom, goddamn it!"

Kerry wheezed, struggling to break free from the hands holding him down, but he couldn't. His newest thought was that the Na'Vi was all insane if they willingly allowed the arachnoid to sting them.

"Hold on for just a few more minutes, Kerry," Norm said, looming over him, blurry and loud. "We need for you to stay calm. You're going to be okay. Just focus on breathing for us."

Kerry couldn't believe what he was hearing. The biologist was speaking to him as if he were a pregnant woman.

"You're so lucky your mother's dead and not here, little boy," his aunt seethed from his right. "You might be almost thirty, but she'd still whip your ass to the point where you wouldn't be able to sit for a year."

Kerry wanted to laugh, but was in far too much agony at the moment to do as such. If this sting didn't kill him, she sure as hell sounded like she was going to.

He couldn't see his hand, but it felt like it was going to blow up in a shower of blood and bone. It hurt like a bitch.

"Look at me, Kerry," Norm instructed, and Kerry rolled his head over. "I need you to stay calm."

He suddenly felt something being inserted slowly into his burning hand. His eyes widened as he took a deep breath. There was only one thing he could do.

He screamed.

"Hold him!" His aunt shouted.

"You're okay, Kerry," Norm said through gritted teeth. "It'll all be over with soon."

"Damn," Trudy griped. "He's a strong little thing."

Kerry squeezed his eyes shut against the terrible pain, feeling it ever so slowly begin to lessen. It felt as though all the hurt with the ouch was being sucked away by something. He could feel it.

"I swear to every god invented by human and non," his aunt vowed. "If you ever pull this shit again, I'll break both your fucking legs off and beat you with them."

Kerry took another deep breath in order to calm himself down and opened up his eyes once more. The pain was almost completely gone now. The hellish burning had been replaced with a cool, sort of balm feeling.

"We're very lucky we had this specimen on hand," another voice said from beyond his line of vision. It sounded an awful lot like Max. "Otherwise…"

"I'd have ran out and got one," his aunt finished for the tongue twisted scientist.

"How do you feel, Kerry?" Norm asked, looking down at him with his aunt and Trudy on either side.

He suddenly began to feel terribly ashamed for what he had done, but there was nothing he could do to take it all back now. He could only assume he'd never be rid of the head doctor now. That man loved to look at his brain and poke at it with his shiny poking rod. It was like a hobby of his or something.

"I feel," he said, being allowed to slowly sit up along with Norm's help, looking at his hand as he did just that. The words instantly died on his lips.

There was a deep purple swipe beginning at the double sting marks, spiraling over the top of his right hand and up the length of his arm. It looked just like some kind of spiraling, exotic tattoo. It was almost as if his skin had been stained with some kind of ink from within. He looked to see that the purple coil stopped at the edge, over his right shoulder. It almost reminded him of a serpent wrapped around his arm.

He looked up at his aunt with wide eyes. "Will this be permanent?"

She shrugged. "If it is, let it serve as a reminder when the urge to do something retarded should ever cross that mind of yours again. You're a lucky little fool. Not too many men survive that sting."

"I think it looks wild," Trudy spoke up. "Do you want a matching one for your left side as well?"

Kerry looked at her, but it was Norm who sort of growled, only to cough rather loudly. He glanced at the bigger man with a cocked brow.

"Choked on my saliva," Norm chuckled, blushing terribly.

"I'm relieved that you're okay, Kerry," his aunt said, suddenly slapping him upside the head with her open palm, making him yelp in pain. She put her long finger right in his face, nearly making him cross his eyes to stare at it. "And just you remember what I told you."

He bit back the urge to bite the finger before him. It would only serve to piss her off all the more.

"And no," Dr. Grace Augustine whispered. "Tom told me nothing."

Kerry turned his head away from her. She was lying. He knew she was.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking at the venomous marking that now marred his once perfect flesh. "I just…"

"I know you miss him," she quickly stopped him. "And I know you're still angry, but I have a very important job to do here. The flora on this moon could very well be the keys to bringing our world back to life." She put her hands on his shoulders, squeezing them. "I need for you to pull it together and fast. You were once a straight A student. The top in your class. You can help me out there."

He instantly caught on to what she was really saying to him. He could help her out there. They could both discover the key and that key would open the door to Tom's murderer.

He lowered his eyes. "All right."

She ruffled his hair a little roughly. "You need to eat something. Norm?"

"I'm on it," he said, rushing from the room.

The door slid closed behind him.

"How long was I out there?" Kerry asked, looking up and over at Trudy.

Max was no longer in the room either.

"I heard the doc yelling at you and I came running in," she said, taking a seat on a plastic stool. "You were on the floor, limp and babbling out your mind. I seriously thought you'd lost it again."

"Under four minutes," his aunt broke in. She began to clean up around the table he was sitting on. "So, did you happen to find your totem?"

His lips were awfully dry, so he licked them with his tongue. He needed some serious balm.

He shook his head. "I can't remember."

It was really fuzzy. He thought he could make out some drumming. Had there been dancing people? It was all shadow and spinning lights. He felt the sense of chaos upon a scary sea of harmony. Lots of wind and rain.

"What about a journal?" Trudy asked.

He stopped. "Journal?"

Kerry didn't see the sudden look his aunt shot at Trudy from over his shoulder. If he had, he would have jumped up and started stabbing himself with random needles.

"I'm asking you," Trudy answered him. "You were the one having the toxic dream."

He made a face.

A journal. What kind of journal?

"_I did it for Pandora, my tan__hi__."_

That had been Tom's voice. Tom had been in his dream. The sudden feeling of ghostly arms tugged at him.

Had Tom kept a journal?

"What does tanhi mean?" He asked.

"Star," his aunt answered.

"_I did it for Pandora, my star."_

"Why do you ask?" His aunt asked in mild interest.

He calmed his breathing and simply shrugged his shoulders, still thinking.

Norm had been Tom's roommate. Maybe he'd know something about a journal.

Disappointment struck him. Even if Tom had kept a journal, it would be gone now. All of Tom's things were gone.

He cursed in his mind. That journal would probably contain all of Tom's secrets. It could even have contained why he had been shot to death.

But, if Tom had been against the RDA, then that journal would have been immediately analyzed and destroyed even faster. He had his doubts that Norm would have taken it. The guy was just too damn honest.

"Trudy," his Aunt Grace said. "Why don't you go find Norm? He's probably gotten lost again."

Kerry watched her leave.

But, what if Norm had taken it? What if Norm and his aunt knew?

He stared at his aunt's back. If they did have this journal, then the secret inside must be so dangerous, they couldn't ever let anybody know. It could destroy any hope of proving who the guilty party was if they acted too soon.

"I wonder if Tom kept a journal," he suddenly said.

Grace turned to face him. "All scientists keep journals. I have more than a hundred."

"I know that," he smiled. "I've read half of one."

She rolled her eyes.

"What?" He asked, snorting at her reaction, hopping off the table.

"Take it slow." She went over to a small shelf and pulled a thin book from it. It was light green in color and stained just a little bit.

"What is that?" He asked, leaning back against the table.

It really was amazing. Just a few moments ago, he was screaming his head off in agony, now he was perfectly well again.

"It is one of Tom's field journals," she told him, turning back around. "A good read if you enjoy complaining and talking bad about said boss."

Kerry practically snatched it away from her hand and held it like a little child would have once held a fuzzy puppy.

"Food!" Norm yelled and Trudy came in after him.

Kerry was all eyes on his newfound treasure. He never saw the sudden and silent exchange between the older three adults. If he had, he would have calmly put down Tom's priceless journal, and then promptly begin throwing random objects at them, while screaming his head off.

**Pandora: Day 2,190**

_It is so very hot here. It never gets cold. I'm sweating down to my socks again. I seriously think I can actually smell myself. _

_Please, oh please don't let that new "kid" come near me today. I don't want him to smell how gross I must look. I really want to get to know the Plant Lady's nephew, but not when I'm smelling like some dead animal that's been cooking under this alien sun. _

_Oh! I see a mushroom. Maybe I can talk Norm into eating it._

Kerry faced his aunt. "Where are all the others?"

"That was the only one I found and that was because it was left in here," she told him.

He knew that all of Tom's digital recordings had been corrupted. They had been the first things to go. That in itself still looked terribly suspicious to him.

"Let's eat," Norm quickly piped in.

They did.

"Norm?" He asked.

"Hmm?"

"Did you eat that mushroom?"

Norm looked puzzled for a moment and Kerry held up the journal. The man's face turned reader than paint.

Trudy shook her head and his aunt lightly laughed over her food.

"I was hungry!" Norm yelled at Trudy, suddenly stuffing his face again.

The pilot howled.

Kerry turned the page.

**Pandora: Day 2,240**

_I wonder if a human such as myself could raise a prolemuris to be a pet. People back on my world did it with chimps back in the day. I've seen the Na'Vi youngsters doing it with those crazy Fan Lizards. Norm once told me that they were the favorite of the boss lady._

_Oh!_

_I also saw Kerry again today. That "kid" is actually kind of spooky. He was sitting on the outer rim on one of those large oval windows, looking out. I have no idea what he was looking at. He could have been looking at any of the other moons for all I know. It could even have been that big red eye that's always looking down from the giant planet. I still think it looks an awful lot like Jupiter._

_The "kid" reminds me of the lead character (except Kerry is male) in that old fairytale my mom once read to Jake and me when Jake still wet the bed._

_Snow White!_

_That boy is as pale as a banshee's bleached bones, his hair puts me in the mind of a Viperwolf (liquid darkness), and his eyes are bluer than the shimmering leaves on the warbonnet fern._

_I wanted very much to walk up and speak to him, but I smelled really bad. So, I just settled on watching him for a moment (turned into ten moments before I knew it. Honestly!)._

_He sighed only the once and I nearly jumped out of my boots and ran away. His lonely sigh had been the saddest sound I've ever heard. That "kid" seriously needs a friend, before he starts getting bored and getting himself into trouble._

_I'll fake an illness tomorrow and start a conversation with him. I'm sure Grace (anything but) wouldn't mind a frolic in the bush without me. All I do is complain and whine at her about how hot and tired I am just to get some kind of rise out of her. Sometimes I think she wants to hit me, or leave me out there._

Kerry chuckled and closed the green book. He had never thought Tom to be the shy type. Their very first real conversation had been hilarious.

Tom had tripped and fallen right on his face before him, causing Kerry to quickly check to see if he was all right. Tom had laughed and told him that hadn't been part of his master plan at all. He told him all about how he always wrote these kinds of things out first, handed everyone their scripts, and then rehearsed it fifty times before following through with any of it. He had told Tom that he had never received his script, which caused the tan guy to considerably pale. Kerry remembered Tom telling him to quickly dismiss the whole catastrophe as being a figment of his imagination, and that he would introduce himself again on a later date, once he had gotten the script and went over it.

"Good read?" His aunt asked.

He looked up.

Trudy was gone and Norm was preparing specimens for the microscope. When had Trudy left?

"You could have given me this sooner," he told her.

She turned from her workstation. "You were sick and needed healing."

She was right, of course. At that time, this journal would have made his "sickness" even worse. He would have probably been killed in cold blood as well for going after the bastard who had taken away the kind and funny man within the pages he held in his hands.

"Need any help?" He asked.

"Me," Norm said. "Come help me."

He carefully put the journal down, took one last bite of his "yummy" supper, and did just that. He knew Norm was looking for any excuse necessary in order to finish off his "yummy" leftovers.

"The blue one!" Grace yelled. "Not the red one! Are you color blind as well?"

"Oh, shut up!" Kerry playfully snapped right back at her. "Or I'll screw up the violet one just because."

Norm burped.

"Give me patience," Grace swore.

Norm winked at him and Kerry snickered as he handed his aunt the correct specimen.

**To Be Continued…**

**Author Note:** Once again, I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed this story so far. Thank you all so very, very much. I'm so glad that you are enjoying it. It makes me smile. Please, keep reviewing and telling me what you think of the tale so far. They keep me thinking and writing.

I'm still using _Avatar: An Activists Survival Guide_ for all my information on Pandora. It is such a fun read.

**Na'Vi-English**

Tanhi-Star

Txe'lan-Heart


	6. Chapter Five

Dance in the Dark

Flora_Winters

**Disclaimer:** I do not own James Cameron's Avatar. It all belongs to him. I'm not making any money off writing this story either.

**Summary:** Can a true love survive destiny? Grace has a nephew and he's sort of crazy. Don't worry. He has good reasons. Language, MM, OC, Violence

_Chapter Five_

Kerry held out his arm, letting Norm gently take hold of it. The purple marking was beautifully iridescent under the light, and when the light was turned off, the poisonous spiral glowed with shimmering violet bioluminescence. The vibrant coloring was exactly the same as the male arachnoid. The spectacle was very pretty, but also kind of weird as well. He had made the joke that he was his very own nightlight now. His aunt had chuckled and Norm had rolled his eyes, letting out a patient sigh.

All of this poking and prodding had come about when his aunt had turned out the lights in the lab for the night. It had been the strangest thing to see his own arm light up in the darkness as if a moon had been lit from within his flesh. And he had thought the looks he had received were odd when he had woken up from a four year sleep with a head full of hair, whiter than winter's finest cloak. According to his aunt and Norm, he was the only human this sort of thing had ever happened to. Norm had even made the suggestion that his anomaly could have to do with his mutated DNA due to the "healing sleep." The reason why his hair was white.

"I believe this will remain permanent," his aunt finally diagnosed. "It will be best if you begin wearing long sleeves and perhaps a glove when you are out."

Kerry just looked at her. "Are you serious?"

Norm nodded. "Do you want to draw more attention to yourself from the Jar Heads?"

Kerry shook his head, feeling and watching as Norm's fingers slowly moved along his glowing flesh. The man's touch was gentle. It reminded him almost of Tom's soft caresses.

He carefully slipped his arm free and looked across the rectangular table at his bushy haired aunt. She looked as though she hadn't run a brush through her hair in weeks.

"I'm getting sleepy."

Grace leaned forward in her chair. "I will need to take a few pictures."

Kerry leaned back from her. "What? Why?" He suddenly felt very nervous and even more like a freak than ever before.

"Research," she told him, as if it were the most obvious reason in the spinning universe. "This sort of thing is quite remarkable."

Kerry quickly saw that he had no room to make his own choice. The room was, in fact, quite small, what with those two leaning in with science filled eyes. Only Norm's were filled with a little bit of something else altogether.

He could only lower his head, and several flashes later, he was heading back to his room with Norm right behind him. His aunt didn't want him to be left alone tonight, should there be anymore strange side effects to the arachnoid venom.

Norm had a pillow under one arm and a blanket draped over his shoulder. Kerry felt bad that the guy had to bunk on the floor. The floor couldn't be very comfortable.

"This is nothing," Norm told him, fixing himself a place on the floor beside the bed. "Better here than somewhere out there in the forest."

Kerry gently placed Tom's journal down on the bed. He walked over and began to water his plants, while the man behind him stretched out in the floor. He paid very special attention to the orange blossom. It was very pretty. New.

His little room was always warm. So, there was little danger in Norm getting cold. That was a good thing.

"Tell me about outside," he said, turning back to his bed.

He didn't have to say he'd never been. Norm already knew that better than anybody.

"It was frightening the first few times," Norm said, looking up at him. "You never know what could be stalking just behind some beautiful plant to eat you, or what could be lurking below the calm surface of some tranquil looking pool."

Kerry cocked his head to the side, smiling. "But, you do enjoy it."

Norm nodded. "Dr. Augustine is the best. She has yet to lose any…" He quickly cut off, looking away.

Kerry bit his bottom lip. He knew what Norm had been trying to say.

His aunt had never lost anybody out there. But, in here, that was a far different, scarier story.

"I don't know why they chose to call it Hell's Gate," Norm went on. "There is such wild and splendid beauty beyond them."

Kerry kept silent. That was because the hell was in here. Out there was the paradise.

"Get some rest, Norm," he told him. "I'm just going to read for a little bit."

Norm gave him a small smile. There was something else in his eyes. Something that he was wanting to say, but didn't do so.

Kerry carefully stepped over him, climbing onto his bed. He glanced over at the door, making sure it had been locked.

"Goodnight," Norm yawned up.

Kerry picked up Tom's journal, opening it up.

"Goodnight, Norm."

A few minutes later, Norm was softly snoring away.

Another page turned.

~*~

"Thank you, Trudy," Grace said, taking hold of the sky blue journal being handed over to her. "Was it exactly where my nephew few dreamed it to be?"

The pilot nodded her dark head.

"And the two of you made sure nobody saw you?"

She nodded again.

Grace ran a hand over the smooth cover. It was a very nice looking journal. The book had faired well being hidden away within a wall.

"How did Kerry know?" Trudy asked, taking a seat before her. "Repressed memory due to emotional trauma?"

Grace held the book close. "I hope the answers are in here."

She opened up the blue journal and began to slowly scan and flip through the bright white pages. The writing had been done in black ink and the penmanship was flawlessly beautiful. That was when she suddenly growled and bit her bottom lip.

"Is something the matter?" Trudy asked out of concern.

"I have no idea what script this is scratched in," she said, still turning pages. "It looks to be Na'Vi, but it isn't."

Trudy scooted her chair closer. "Show me."

Grace did just that.

"If I read this line here in Na'Vi, it says," she pointed. "The singing fish dances with a headless chicken in a bucket of sunshine."

Trudy snorted. "What?"

Grace tapped her bottom lip with her index finger. Just what the hell did Tom have here that needed hidden so well and coded.

Where was the key? Was there even one?

"The swimming cat bites off its own tail and chokes on a rubber snake."

She closed the journal with a snap, shaking her head. Perhaps she might be able to speak with a member of the Omaticaya once more. That is, if they didn't shoot her full of arrows first. She'd have to grow a new avatar body and everything. That would just piss her off.

She slipped the journal into her bag and left the lab with Trudy. She had a trip to plan out. Perhaps someone out there could also take a look at her nephew's arm.

~*~

Kerry silently wiped fresh tears from his eyes.

**It is kind of hard for me to talk to Kerry sometimes. I keep getting myself sucked right into those pretty blue eyes of his, and before I know it, I'm babbling about something that makes no sense at all. I nearly choked on my food pouch today because of them.**

**Sometimes his eyes get this look in them that makes me want to pull him into my arms and hold him tight. One moment, he is all laughing and smiling like there is nothing wrong in this new world, and the next, he looks so terribly vulnerable.**

**There has to be a reason for such sudden looks and mood changes. Something terrible must haunt him. I just know it.**

**He needs someone. Maybe he will allow that someone to be me someday. I really do think I could take care of him, make him smile all the time, and mean it.**

Norm snored, making Kerry glance down at the sleeping biologist. He ever so quietly closed the journal and slipped it under his pillow.

"_Let me love you, Ker," Tom had smiled, opening up his arms for him to step in for a comforting embrace. "I'll see to it that nobody ever hurts you again."_

A sudden yawn snuck up on him. He reached over, turning out the light. His arm began to softly light up.

He pulled the covers up around him, curled up on his left side, and closed his eyes after a few moments.

_His _twin would be here soon. What was he going to do?

_Tom…_

~*~

Tsam'Wa, warrior, hunter, and seer of unseen things to be, stood atop a large rock formation with his powerful arms folded across his broad chest. Sweet scented whisperings were on the warm breeze and they had him softly smiling with a hint of white fang. The bioluminescent markings on his handsome face glowed in the soft darkness.

Atokrina, seeds of the Great Tree, floated and shone all around his tall form, but not touching him. These pure souls, most blessed of Eywa, radiated their gentle lights.

They sang to him of the One on the other side of the same surface, He of the broken form, but whole of spirit. The one with the dead male's face was coming. He would descend from the sky on the wings of mighty drums. The mighty Warrior of Eywa.

His ears suddenly twitched and his amber-green eyes turned to the west. The music had changed.

Fierce lights danced among the billowing violet clouds. They were poisonous green and venomous yellow.

Something else was ascending. He could feel it in his young bones. The air was filled with strange energy, causing him to swish his tail back and forth with some nervousness.

"Txum Txe'lan."

A name long since forgotten. Only a select few still remembered it. A time before there was a time.

He trembled down to his toes and rain began to fall as all those dangerous looking lights danced in the dark.

**To Be Continued…**

**Author Note:**** Please do review and tell me what you think. I am having a lot of fun writing this story. It is going to start to get really, really good here shortly. Once Kerry gets outside, and falls down the well, the Direhorse shit is really going to hit the fan.**

_-Flora_


	7. Chapter Six

Dance in the Dark

Flora_Winters

Disclaimer: I do not own James Cameron's Avatar. It all belongs to him. I'm not making any money off writing this story either.

Summary: Can a true love survive destiny? Grace has a nephew and he's sort of crazy. Don't worry. He has good reasons. Language, MM, OC, Violence

Chapter Six

Kerry stood before the glass window, watching a few of the avatars playing a game of ball with each other. Their movements were swift and their body language graceful. It made him wonder what it would feel like to wake up inside such a powerful and imposing form. Their muscles were sleek and their blue flesh was glossy from sweat and the humidity. It looked to be so warm and wonderful on the other side of the thick and confining glass.

One of the lone avatars spotted him watching and grinned at him with a hint of sharp fang. He knew the Na'Vi to have really long and sharp canines. Their teeth reminded him about one of the old books he had once read. It had been a tale about an immortal blood drinker known as Dracula. He would drink the blood of the living in order to stay young, handsome, and vital. It was the only way for the tragic character to survive in a world of glitz and shiny glam.

The avatar came up to the round window and pecked on it with a large blue hand. That hand could easily pick him up by his head and toss him for several yards. He knew how strong the hybrids were. It also made him wonder just how strong a pure Na'Vi was.

The blue face stuck a pink tongue out at him, making him feel as if he were some kind of caged animal in a long-ago-zoo. So, he gave the avatar the middle finger, cocking his head to the side with a grin of his own.

The avatar laughed, shaking his head. He wondered who the guy was. His aunt had so many trained people running about in blue skin these days.

Amber eyes sparkled in at him, due to the light from the alien sun. There was much amusement within those honey warm depths. It really made him begin to wonder who was walking about in that form.

Slowly turning away from all the fun and freedom, he made the sudden choice to go and see Tom's avatar. He knew it wasn't Tom, but it was the closest thing to be near to him. It was nice having one of his journals, but it wasn't the same.

Making sure that the violet markings on his flesh were securely covered, he walked by another window, where an avatar was running on a treadmill and a female was jump-roping. They were talking and laughing with each other. He couldn't hear them, because all the glass was completely soundproof.

His aunt had banned him from entering the lab where the avatar linking machines were. She had done this because she had feared he would touch a shiny, flashy button out of morbid curiosity, and royally fuck something up. So, he had no clue who most of the people in the avatar program were.

He just knew that most of these people were used for fieldwork and interacting with the locals. Even though interacting with the locals was now a thing of the past. People tend to get pissed the fuck off when you shoot at them.

Coming to another window, he stopped for a moment. Inside was an avatar playing with a baby hexapede. It was one of the most beautiful animals he had ever seen.

The six-legged blue deer was eating out of the female avatar's hand, even allowing her to hold it like a small child would a robot puppy. It was the cutest thing ever and his heart yearned to hold it as well. He wanted to play with it, too.

He looked down at his feet and wanted to sigh, but quickly thought against it. He knew what would happen if he did. A deep depression would rapidly sink in and he would get nothing done.

He was struggling to build up some walls, in order for him to stand as strong as possible for when Tom's twin arrived. He wanted to be able to look into those same eyes and not flinch away in horror.

He just hoped meeting Jake wouldn't throw him off his sudden guard. The walls he was constructing around himself were made from numbing ice. If he became like the ice, then he wouldn't feel anything. He didn't want himself to feel anything when he finally had to come face to face with the mirror image of his murdered lover. It was hard enough just going and seeing the alien form Tom would have worn when out in the wild jungle beyond the metal gates of Hell.

Walking into the empty lab, the only sounds were the mild humming of machines and the soft echo of water, when one of the hybrids moved in their endless dreaming. He slowly walked up to the large tank, gazing deeply into the alien blue face of Tom's avatar.

This would be the body Jake would wear. Tom's avatar would be filled with his brother's spirit and be able to open its eyes and move about.

It all suddenly felt so terribly wrong. This was Tom and someone else was going to be wearing what was left of him.

That painfully handsome face turned to him with closed eyes. It was like gazing in at a ghost.

The long, muscular legs kicked a little bit, making the large feet twitch. His eyes followed the light blue stripes, studying the different patterns in which they made.

Long hair, darker than a black sky, billowed about like strands of liquid midnight. He wished he could run his fingers through it. He wanted to touch the avatar, feel its warmth.

Removing his fitted glove, he put his pale hand up against the warm glass. The fluid inside was like that of body temperature. It was the same warmth as that of a woman's womb.

"I want to go outside," he whispered, looking away when the avatar's front was completely exposed, showing off just how well endowed it was. "I wanted to go outside with you more than anything…"

He had wanted to know what it would have felt like to make love from within another body. He had wanted to feel the warm rays from the Pandora sun on the alien flesh he would have gotten to wear. He had wanted more than anything to just be with Tom out there.

Every time Tom had gone out into the jungle, he would stay behind and secretly pray to some god he didn't believe in. It wasn't the jungle that needed to be feared. He should have feared the "civilized" in this place.

He turned around and slid down the smooth surface, until he was sitting on his knees. He knelt his head, looking down at his pale hand, marked with violet poison. In the darkness of his shadow, his skin softly glowed.

It was cold.

He had been so warm once. Now, he felt so terribly cold. He was just a shadow, weakly glowing in a deeper shadow of what could have been a wonderful brightness.

He wanted revenge.

He wanted to run away and never come back.

That was what he wanted, but that was near impossible. The security checks were too tight. He'd never make it out without getting caught.

Turning around and looking up, he saw that Tom's avatar had its long tail wrapped several times around both muscular legs. For a moment, his heart melted. It was so cute.

"Hey," a sudden voice startled him, making him turn his neck so quickly it popped. "I thought I'd find you here."

Norm was standing in the open door, looking at him with some concern on his tired face. He must have been up late all night again, working on the samples his aunt was sending back from being out in the field. She'd been out there for almost thirty hours now.

"Study time?" He asked, rising to his feet, rubbing his neck.

Norm nodded. "How are you feeling today?"

Kerry rolled up his sleeve, showing off the violet markings upon his flesh. "I didn't need to turn the light on in the bath this morning. Just think of all the energy I saved."

Norm snorted, stepping in. The door slid shut behind him. There was a look on his face.

"What?" Kerry asked, scratching the back of his head.

Norm smiled. "Would you like to see your avatar?"

Within that smallest of heartbeat in time, the near silent hammering in his chest was louder than thunder. He had no words. All he could do was nod his head.

His avatar was finally ready. He would soon be able to do what Tom could only write about in his journal.

Following Norm out the doors, he thought back to the entry he had read earlier this morning to the light of his own bioluminescence. He put the tips of his index and middle finger to his lips, smiling at the fond memory.

Tom's written words came flowing back through his memory and he turned back just before the doors could close behind him. The sleeping avatar's right hand was slightly raised, moving at if it were waving at him.

_/This evening, I lead Snow White into the privacy of the gardens, where we talked among the blossoming trees. The boy walked the manicured paths, weaving in and out of dancing shadows like some kind of ghostly nymph._

_I think green would be the best color on him. A dark and mysterious green. The kind of green that cloaks this beautiful rose's sharp thorn that has mercilessly pricked the very core of my heart._

_We talked for what felt like forever and then a tear fell from a blue star. I instantly wiped it away without thinking, tasting what once could have been a precious diamond from an endless ocean upon my tongue. It was the sweetest jewel I've ever tasted._

_I pulled him closer, cupping a smooth cheek in the palm of my hand, placing a kiss under his left eye. Before I knew it, I was kissing him, and he had his arms around me, kissing me back with so much need it was scary. It was as if he were drowning, and I was a raft._

_It felt so right._

_I couldn't let him go, but somehow he suddenly pushed away, breaking free from me. The look on his beautiful face was a mixture of happy radiance and fearful shadow._

_A miserable note escaped from between his bee stung lips and he ran from me. I went after him without even stopping to think about what it might look like._

_He was alone and Scarred._

_He needed me._

_He was running so fast and blindly._

_He was swift and fast, but I caught him, holding his trembling and crying from as tightly as I could without hurting him. He spun around in my embrace, throwing his arms around my neck, holding me even tighter._

_I could barely breathe as he wept against my hammering chest._

_In my heart, I'm so happy._

_He'd ran to me./_

Kerry blinked, realizing he was waving back. His eyes were stinging.

The door slid shut.

Norm reached for his hand, putting the glove back on him.

**To Be Continued…**

**Please review and tell me what you think. I'm sorry it took so long to update. So, here you go.**

**--Flora**


	8. Chapter Seven

Dance in the Dark

Flora_Winters

**Disclaimer:** I do not own James Cameron's Avatar. It all belongs to him. I'm not making any money off writing this story either.

**Summary:** Can a true love survive destiny? Grace has a nephew and he's sort of crazy. Don't worry. He has good reasons. Language, MM, OC, Violence

Chapter One

_Wither on a sunny day_

_Time slows down_

_I wish you'd stay_

_Pass me by in crowded dark hallways_

-Maroon 5 (_Not Falling Apart_)

Looking into the tranquil face of his dreaming avatar, Kerry realized Tom hadn't been joking when he had called him beautiful. This sleeping creation highlighted his human looks, making them all the more alien. It was as if he were gazing into a blue mirror, seeing oneself physically perfected in every way.

"This is spooky," he voiced, still staring into his own face.

The avatar's smooth skin was an iridescent cyan and its stripes were a bit darker than that. They almost reminded him of cerulean ocean currents. The hair was long and dark, just as his had been, once upon a long ago time. Blacker than an oil spill in perpetual flame.

Norm chuckled, telling him that his aunt would like for him to take it for a test run tomorrow afternoon. She wanted him to get comfortable with it, and to see if it was physically working properly. Plus, it would give him something to look forward to as a treat when he did something pleasing for her.

He wanted to growl, but it would only prove she was training him not to be a naughty puppy. She was so wicked.

He put his gloved hand to the clear glass. Soon this new body would house his consciousness, allowing him to walk unhindered under Pandora's sky. He would get to experience something Tom had studied and trained so very hard for. It only seemed right for him to do his very best and make his solider boy proud.

"I get to come out with you," Norm said. "I can't wait to try mine on too."

There was so much excitement in his voice. He sounded just like a little kid who'd been let loose in a colorful candy store.

Norm was such a dork, but a nice dork. A considerate dork. Very caring and protective dork. Almost like a big brother would be.

"We should head back to the lab and work through a few of your aunt's specimens," Norm told him, turning from the large tank. "That way she'll have less to do when she gets back."

Kerry nodded his snowy head and silently followed him from the quiet room.

Neither of them saw the pair of bright eyes snap open with an almost electrical hiss from behind glass, glowing a venomous green in the pale blue shadows. There was no intelligence behind the gaze, only a hollow look of unbridled rage. Slowly, the poisonous orbs closed, and so had the sliding doors.

Kerry very carefully picked up a glass canister. It contained nectar from a Pseudocenia Rosea. The scientists called it a Chalice Plant. The Na'Vi call it "animal eater" and with really good reason.

A few soldiers had been unlucky enough to have been devoured by a few back in the early days of exploration. This type of flora was literally a maneater. It would trap its prey inside, forcing them down with downward pointing hairs that are razor sharp. They would then drown in the collective water and be absorbed by the plant's digestive enzymes. Soft tissue didn't stand a chance.

A sick rumor was told that digested humans only make the plant's nectar all the more sweet. A few soldiers scare new recruits by telling them false stories about how the Na'Vi will feed captured humans to the plants in order to get the best type of nectar. But, there were a few soldiers he wouldn't mind seeing getting tossed headfirst into the gaping maws of a Chalice Plant with their feet kicking.

The nectar is very nutritious and extremely dangerous to get at, but his aunt was the very best at her job. He couldn't picture her failing at anything when out in the field. When she wanted something, no matter what the hell it may be, she never gave up until she had it cradled in her arms.

That is just the way she is.

"Would you like to give some of that a try?" Norm asked him, holding out a tiny metal spoon in his hand.

Having never had any before, Kerry readily nodded in curiosity. He handed the glass container over.

The nectar inside was slightly thick and clear, almost pale lavender in color.

Norm opened it up and the smell was divine. It was so sweet and wonderful.

"Only a little though," Norm cautioned, just barely touching the spoon to the heavenly goo. "We can't have you bouncing all over the compound."

Kerry scoffed.

"Seriously," Norm told him, handing the little spoon over to him before screwing the lid back on. "Next to this stuff, caffeine is nonexistent on the scale."

Kerry wished he could whistle, but he couldn't. so, he just settled on nodding.

He plopped the spoon in his mouth and the taste on his tongue was yummier than honey had ever been. In fact, he couldn't even remember the taste of honey, seeing as how bees had been extinct for over fifty years now, but manufactured fake honey had nothing on this pure bliss.

"Wow."

That was all he could say. He felt as if he'd just woken up from eight hours of nothing but REM. He had no other words in which to accurately describe how he'd just tasted paradise on his tongue.

"Tom took a whole tablespoon once," Norm told him, logging the nectar into the system with a few click of the computer keys. "He was lucky not to have had a heart attack. Your aunt had to make him sit down and not move for over five hours. It had been the most annoying five hours of my life, believe me. He wouldn't shut up. He actually asked me what I thought of manta rays."

Kerry softly laughed.

Tom had never been one to really worry about or read warnings. In a small way, he really hated him for that. But, he kept his mouth shut and continued on with his assigned task. He could cry later in the privacy of his tiny room.

Picking up another canister for Norm to log, he suddenly hissed in slight discomfort. His marked hand had stung, but only for a short moment.

"Is something wrong?" Norm asked over his shoulder.

Kerry quickly answered, telling him he was fine. It wouldn't do having them worry about him. He'd caused so much trouble already.

He handed the coded canister to Norm and then silently slid his glove off, looking his hand over. The slight tingling sensation felt as if it were actually spiraling along the purple marking on his pale flesh.

"Well this is weird," Norm said, capturing his attention.

"What?" He asked, wiggling his fingers a bit.

Norm spun around in his chair, showing him.

"This little sprout of Binary Sunshine has completely blossomed."

Kerry cocked his head to the side. "Huh?" He didn't understand.

"Well," Norm said, scratching his head in obvious puzzlement. "I don't think it is supposed to do this, at least not while being in this specialized container."

Kerry nodded.

He looked at his hand. The sudden tingly-stinging sensation was gone.

"I'll just log this in like normal and make a special note for your aunt to read later," Norm went on, turning back to the glowing computer screen.

Kerry listened to the keys being tapped and slid his glove back on his hand. It wouldn't do for someone to walk in and see him. Of course, he could probably play it off as an eccentric tattoo he had gotten back in the day, but some had also seen him with no markings upon his flesh. So, that could raise some annoying questions. He could just say it was a Na'Vi tribal marking then if it were to ever come down to something like that. It would be the more believable tale.

Jarheads know very little of Na'Vi culture and the higher ups only care about how much money they shovel into their pockets. So, it would be the most believable lie.

"Go get some rest," Norm told him, still typing. "I'll finish up here and see you in the morning."

Kerry wanted to object, but quickly thought better. He didn't want to do or say anything that could jeopardize the fun he could have tomorrow afternoon.

So, with a pleasant smile, he left Norm with his talking computer.

_Phosphorescent rainbow hues flashed and flickered all around him. The sound of gentle flowing water hypnotized his ears, drawing his naked feet closer and closer to the source._

_Blazing blue petals fell amidst the flower strewn jungle path for him to follow. All of nature seemed to be singing from within the darkness between the many dancing lights._

_Hidden creatures darted in and out the corner of his eyes, always just beyond a blink. Those forest drums began beating out the familiar rhythm of a lone heartbeat._

_It was wild, untamable._

_The heartbeat of nature as one._

_Beautiful and terrifying._

_The same pool came into his view. Glowing green waters and streaming pink strands of vibrant silk illuminated the lone figure in the steamy pool. _

_The figure was calling his name in soft thunder, echoing the heartbeat._

_He stood before the pool and flora burst into bloom at his feet, twining up his long legs, flowering about his slender frame in poisonous beauty. Those silky pink strands of soft light whispered with ghosts across his bare skin, reminding him of all the kisses he missed._

_The hidden figure patiently urged him to step into the pool by holding out its hand. It was shapely, pale as bleached bone, and all too familiar._

_Drums only got louder and that single heartbeat pounded in his ears, within his very veins. It was in his blood now._

_No_

_It was in his soul._

_He took a single step into the cool water, reaching out to take hold of that waiting hand, but the figure suddenly seemed to be just another step away. Dark coils of long hair looked to be slithering and curling about the figure's hidden face, reminding him of the way serpent's danced._

_A strong pair of muscular arms suddenly embraced him from behind, gently keeping him from taking that next step towards the enigma in the water. A warm kiss teased the back of his neck, soft and lighter than a falling star._

_All was still, so terribly silent now._

_It was as if everything were suddenly made of glass, awaiting a rock to be thrown, shattering the moment into a billion glittering fragments._

_"You have a choice, Snow," the sweet voice tickled his left ear._

_Tom?_

_He couldn't speak._

_His voice had been silenced by an invisible force._

_"Actions speak louder than words," the slender figure in the pool spoke, voice airy, bubble soft. "You've been still and whispering for so long."_

_He could only let himself be held within that haunting embrace. It was all he could really do._

_"Remember my love," Tom spoke. "Let that keep you…you."_

_The figure in the water took a swift step forward, as if the water was not there, as if gliding like a monster through water. _

_Kerry held his breath. He was face to face with himself._

_Monstrous and alluring._

_The voice which spoke then was his very own. Deep, distorted, and pissed off. Those blue eyes looked mad and twisted with grief._

_"Time to pass out them apples," the beast beyond the looking glass giggled, grinning with the fangs of a Na'Vi._

_A bone white fist was about to punch him in the breast, but Tom let him go._

_He fell towards his terrifying reflection, falling upwards like a beam of light._

_"Not yet." Tom's voice followed him. "You make the choice."_

Kerry woke up, gasping.

His hand was stinging terribly.

Gripping hold of it, he fought not to scream, but the mental one had been enough. The violent sound of glass cracking and being shattered assaulted him.

His spiral marking glowed with violet fire, and what he saw in that illuminated darkness made him scream.

**To Be Continued…**

**Note: Please review and tell me what you think. I do apologize for taking so long in updating. I'm working full time as a receptionist and going back to school to get my degree in Biology. I hope you all enjoy this new chapter and let me know what you think about it. I await your words.**

**-Flora**

**Special Note: The information on the "Chalice Plant" I used for this chapter I got from James Cameron's AVATAR: An Activist Survival Guide. Like I said before, it is a good read and gives me so many ideas to be used later on in this story. **


	9. Chapter Eight

Dance in the Dark

Flora_Winters

Disclaimer: I do not own James Cameron's AVATAR and I'm not making any money here either. This is one of the best movies EVER made.

**Chapter Eight**

Norm rushed into Kerry's darkened little room and froze there in the open doorway as if he had hit a wall made of thick glass. The young man on the bed was trembling and huddling away on the far right hand corner of his small bed. He had his face hidden completely from view and he was pressed up against the wall as far away as he could get.

Glass was all in the floor, but that wasn't what had the young botanist gawking like a fish drowning in oil. His wide eyes were witnessing wild roses sprouting, growing at a rapid rate and blooming all throughout the room. Thorn covered green vines covered the walls and snaking across the low ceiling. Falling blossoms littered the floor and bed like discarded gems, but not a single one touched Kerry. It was as though he were in some kind of an invisible bubble. It was all taking place just around him.

Started by the sheer impossibility playing out like a movie before his stunned and dazzled eyes, Norm took a swift glance back out into the empty hallway and quickly stepped back inside, closing the door behind him. He had to get to Kerry and make sure he wasn't injured. At least, that was what his heart was yelling for him to do, but his brain was far more concerned about the sharp looking thorns which obstructed his route. Each one looked as if they could rend flesh from bone and looked hungry enough to enjoy doing it, too.

Kerry was mumbling under his breath and shaking his head back and forth as though he were arguing with himself or something unseen. Norm could make out a few of the words. Kerry was speaking fluent Na'Vi.

Vrrtep.

_Demons._

Tspang.

_Kill._

Ska'a.

_Destroy._

Kurakx.

_Drive out._

His words were harsh and guttural. They were not angry words. They were _pissed the fuck off_ words. They were words thirsting to be written in blood.

Norm shivered and realized the room was colder than a meat locker. The smell of roses which permeated the very air was causing his head to spin.

"Kerry…"

Kerry's head snapped around and Norm's sweaty back hit the door. Kerry cocked his snowy head to the side with a hiss from his blood red lips and Norm could see his breath in the air. Crystalline green tears streamed like blood from his glowing, insane blue eyes.

Kerry crawled forward on his knees all animalistic like, crouching at the very edge of the bed. Rose vines parted their thorns and he stood with feline grace.

"Kerry?"

"Interlopers!" Kerry shrieked higher than the Hallelujah Mountains.

His voice was not his voice and his face was not his face. It was bestial, beautiful and crazed. He pointed a knife sharp finger at Norm and Norm felt his bladder release.

"Ravagers of our body! Rapists!" Kerry cried, rose vines rattling like venomous serpents. "Murderers of our chosen!"

Norm could feel his own warm urine trailing down his trembling legs, growing colder by the second. The ground rumbled and shook under his feet as Kerry's form became a monstrous shadow.

"WE WILL MAKE YOU PAY! 'EKO!"

Vines were unleashed and attacked like whips with hungry fangs and before Norm could feel his flesh rendered an unknowable agony, he woke up in a tangle of his own bed sheets, in a pool of his own cold piss.

His breathing was labored. He was soaked in sweat, piss and his skin was covered in goose bumps. Every hair on his body was standing on end.

He took a quick glance around his quiet quarters and got up. He cleaned himself as quickly as he could, got dressed and left his room without checking to see if the door had locked itself behind him.

Something was terribly wrong. He knew this because he had not pissed himself in his sleep since Tom's murder.

He could still smell roses.

~OOOOO~

Kerry was sitting on the bottom end of his bed, looking across at the roses in front of him. Bits of broken glass and potting soil lay at his bare feet.

The once little green bush was now at least three times its normal size and its deep red rose blossoms had to be five times that. The thorns were big enough to be used as sewing needles.

He took in another deep breath. His room now smelled of their pleasing perfume and he still didn't know what to do.

So, he very simply decided to water the damn things and be done with the whole event. He could write it off as a biological mishap and pretend it was all perfectly normal.

Hell! For all he knew about plants, this could be normal, like once upon a field of moonflowers blossoming under the moon.

He observed his smooth violet scar on his hand and how it spiraled up and around the length of his entire arm. Every so slowly, he extended his hand towards the roses and using his mind, he asked them to do something.

They did.

They just sat there looking like a bunch of fucking roses. Totally abnormal.

He felt like an idiot.

What did he expect them to do? Dance?

The sudden knock at the door nearly caused him to yelp and cut himself on the broken glass.

He knew that knock.

"Give me a minute," he called, quickly snatching up his bed covers and tossing them in the floor, using them to hide the bits of broken glass and soil.

The last thing he wanted was for his trip out in his avatar to be cancelled. He would just keep this to himself for the time being. It was nothing to get worked up over. Maybe he just hadn't been paying attention to how well the roses had been growing. He could have just dreamed the whole thing where they had been growing rapidly before his eyes and glowing scar.

Yeah! Yeah!

A few roses magically growing bigger and bigger was nothing to freak out over and scream about. His pillow had handled his mouth very well. It had certainly helped keep the noise of his hysterics down to a minimum.

"You may come in now," he said, greeting Norm with a big smile.

Norm walked inside, did a nonstop U-turn and exited the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Kerry looked after the older man's wake with confusion. He scratched the back of his head.

_What the fuck was that?_

Feeling a slight draft, he looked down at himself and promptly blushed pinker than a crayon.

He was naked.

**To Be Continued…**

**I am so sorry it has taken me so long to update the tale. Forgive me? I hope so and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you did, please let me know. I love hearing what all the readers have to say.**

**~Flora**


End file.
